Does New Carpet Contain Formaldehyde?
Carpeting seems like a great choice for a bedroom, living space, or even in an office building. Carpet is both inexpensive, comfortable, decorative, and a great choice to eliminate excess noise. All of these factors can contribute to people selecting carpeting over any other flooring material for their home. However, new carpeting can have some potentially significant health effects and drastic impacts on indoor air quality. New carpeting is a primary source of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), which includes highly toxic chemicals such as the well-known chemical called formaldehyde.
What is Formaldehyde?
Formaldehyde is a colorless, strong smelling gas chemical that is typically found and used in building materials and other household products. This chemical is primarily used in pressed-wood products like pesticides, plywood, adhesives, glues, and insulation materials. A characteristic of formaldehyde that makes this chemical dangerous is the quick nature in which the chemical is broken down in the air – generally this occurs within hours.
The introduction of formaldehyde into your personal indoor environment can happen when building materials such as flooring or furniture enters into the environment that contains a high amount of chemicals like formaldehyde and begins off gassing in the air. One of the biggest culprits of formaldehyde in a home is the installation of carpeting inside the area.
Formaldehyde in Carpeting
Carpeting is a source of major chemicals like formaldehyde. When formaldehyde enters into a home through carpeting, it can produce an amalgam of health effects and symptoms to those who are exposed to this hazardous chemical. According to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, formaldehyde is normally present at low levels indoors, but the levels in which formaldehyde is present after carpet installation is at a heightened level. When this happens inside a personal indoor environment it will trigger symptoms in those who are exposed to the formaldehyde, these symptoms include the following:
✓ Watery eyes
✓ Burning sensation of the eyes, nose, and throat
✓ Coughing
✓ Wheezing
✓ Nausea
✓ Skin irritation
How to Limit Formaldehyde Exposure from Carpeting
Limiting formaldehyde and exposure to formaldehyde inside your home is important and can be done through a few different means. Monitoring the materials that you use inside your home and the ingredients/chemicals that are present in these materials can help to limit formaldehyde levels indoors.
When formaldehyde levels are high inside your personal indoor environment, the best method to utilize to reduce these levels is to use a highly efficient air purifier. The EnviroKlenz Air Purifier is a highly efficient and patented air purifier technology that is able to completely eliminate and/or neutralize chemicals, odors, and other particulates from the air. EnviroKlenz, unlike any other air purifier, is able to safely remove and eliminate these harsh chemicals from the air with a patented earth mineral technology that produces no hazards or byproducts to the environment.
Below is an air purifier comparison testing conducted to show the effectiveness of the EnviroKlenz Air Purifier.
In the study against formaldehyde, the IQAir was able to reduce the compound the fastest from the chamber due to having a much higher loading of media. The MoleKule did not have much impact on the formaldehyde in this study. The BlueAir HEPA media and bare carbon filter did show some physical absorption of formaldehyde, but physical absorption is very prone to releasing whatever it may have absorbed over time since there is no chemical interaction.
The EnviroKlenz Air Purifier does actively react with the formaldehyde through adsorption and polymerization on the oxide surface of the EnviroKlenz media.
The Cleanest Air
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EnviroKlenz Mobile Air System
(Standard Model)
$699
EnviroKlenz Mobile Air System
(UV-C Model)
$799